NEW ORLEANS, La. – It was busy afternoon for the University of Colorado Colorado Springs men's and women's track & field teams as the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) released their sixth installment of the Division II Indoor Track & Field Rating Index and the NCAA announced the men's and women's indoor track & field selections for the 2022 Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships.
After sweeping the RMAC indoor championships over the weekend, the Mountain Lions earn a No. 13 (65.11 points) national ranking on the women's side and a No. 18 (47.11 points) ranking on the men's side in the most recent USTFCCCA National Poll. Minnesota State University's women's team and Pittsburg State University's men's team remain ranked as the No. 1 teams in the Week 6 poll with 166.98 points and 203.71 points, respectively.
The No. 13 ranked Mountain Lion women will send nine student-athletes to the 2022 national championship meet across ten different events. The women's qualifiers will be heavy in the track events, led by senior
Kayla Zink who will make her fourth appearance at nationals with a seventh seeded time of 7.46 seconds in the 60m dash. Zink will also make her nationals debut in the 200m dash after breaking the UCCS school record last weekend to qualify as the 13
th seed at a time of 24.31s. The Mountain Lions will be well-represented in the women's mile, as
Layla Almasri will be the top seeded UCCS athlete with a No. 9 ranking at 4:47.74, followed by
Kate Hedlund as the 15
th seed (4:50.60) and
Riley McGrath as the 16
th seed (4:50.88). The mid-distance trio of Almasri, Hedlund and McGrath will then team up with freshman
Amber Davis to compete as part of the UCCS women's tenth seeded distance medley relay team. Almasri will continue her busy weekend in the 3,000m, where she qualified as the tenth-ranked student-athlete with a time of 9:29.39. After breaking her own school record in the 60m hurdles at the RMAC Indoor Championships over the weekend, redshirt freshman
Melissa Moreni will carry a seventh seeded time of 8.51s into her first national championship meet. Moving to the field events, redshirt sophomore
Faith Novess will make her first appearance at nationals in the high jump as the 13
th seeded competitor at 1.73m. Senior
Hannah Meek will head into her third appearance at nationals with the top seeded mark in the long jump at 6.37m and will also compete in the triple jump as the 11
th ranked competitor at 12.30m. Redshirt sophomore
Emily Arseneau will round out the UCCS women's competitors as she will make her first trip to the national meet as the 12
th seed in the shot put with a mark of 14.84m.
Michela Hewitt will also make the trip to Pittsburg, Kan. as an alternate for the women's DMR.
Nine student-athletes make their way to nationals for the No. 18 ranked men's team, representing the Mountain Lions in eight different events. On the track it will be
Brian Mosley Jr. representing UCCS in the 60m dash with his 15
th seeded time of 6.76s. In the men's mile, redshirt junior
Evan Graff will make his second appearance at nationals in as many years as the No. 11 seed (4:04.11) and will be joined by redshirt sophomore
Gavin Harden who enters as the 16
th seed (4:06.03). Coming off a pair of stellar performances over the weekend, redshirt junior
Afewerki Zeru will compete in both the 3,000m and 5,000m as the 14
th and tenth seeds in each respective race. Off the track,
Skye Ciccarelli makes his way to nationals for the first time in his career after solidifying the ninth seeded spot over the weekend at 2.12m. The Mountain Lion's jumps duo of
Daryon Wilson and
Peyton Turnage will each carry top-ten national marks into the men's long jump, while reigning indoor triple jump national champion will run it back in the event as he enters with a tenth seeded mark of 15.28m. Finally, UCCS redshirt freshman
Thorben Hast will make his first appearance at the national championship meet as the No. 13 seed in the heptathlon.
The Mountain Lions and their program record 18 indoor selections will now prepare to compete at the 2021-2022 NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships on March 11-12 inside the Robert W. Plaster Center on the campus of Pittsburg State University.
2021-2022 USTFCCCA National and Regional Rankings
1/25: MEN: #8 (#1 South Central Region)
WOMEN: #11 (#1 South Central Region)
2/1: MEN: #7 (#1 South Central Region)
WOMEN: #5 (#1 South Central Region)
2/8: MEN: #11 (#2 South Central Region)
WOMEN: #7 (#1 South Central Region)
2/15: MEN: #13 (#3 South Central Region)
WOMEN: #9 (#2 South Central Region)
2/22: MEN: #13 (#3 South Central Region)
WOMEN: #10 (#2 South Central Region)
3/1: MEN: #18 (#3 South Central Region)
WOMEN: #13 (#2 South Central Region)
